


lyor

by delorange



Series: i've always been a fighter, but without you i give up [1]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: A little, Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Feels, POV Outsider, angsty, emily lowkey falls apart, emron, he watches em miss her man, lyor is lyor, lyor pov, set 2x11, seth who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delorange/pseuds/delorange
Summary: aaron is kidnapped, and lyor watches emily.
Relationships: Emily Rhodes/Aaron Shore
Series: i've always been a fighter, but without you i give up [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088933
Kudos: 12





	lyor

**Author's Note:**

> omg ok i’m so excited about this. basically this is the first of at least two, maybe three or more idk, where i tell this ep from different person’s povs. idk why i started with lyor but enjoy! also pls comment some constructive criticism i am honestly trying to improve. 
> 
> nb; i have taken some creative liberties with emily in this ep, she seemed far too calm for aaron to have been literally abducted but idk maybe that’s just me

"Aaron's been kidnapped." Lyor omits the kidnapping of Agent Wells, amongst others, because he knows Emily is unlikely to care about anyone other than the National Security Advisor - he can't think why for the life of him, but this isn't anything to do with him - and he's correct. She goes white as a sheet, and her brow painfully furrows. 

Then he's chasing after her all the way to command ops. He doesn't know how she manages to walk so fast in those heels, but she bursts through the doors in record time. "What do we know?"

Nobody has time to respond, however, as the charming face of Aaron Shore floods the big screen. He looks bored out of his mind reading off those cards behind the camera, Lyor could almost laugh, but then he looks at Emily, and he decides that maybe it's not the right atmosphere. He's very proud of himself for that insight, actually thinking before speaking. 

Emily, however, looks positively ill. She watches Aaron's face with a desperate longing he'd only seen once before: the President looking at pictures of his wife. Lyor remembers the weeks Emily spent holed up in Aaron's office after the First Lady's death, and the one time he walked in on them. 

*

_Lyor barrels around the corner to avoid Seth. He's looking for Emily, as per, and he simply doesn't have the time of day for him right now. He has a recommendation for Aaron Shore that can't wait. The door to his office is cracked open, and Lyor takes that as his invitation in._

_He's glad he didn't have a dramatic opening planned this time, he would've hated to interrupt whatever was going on on the couch. Both parties are facing away from him, but it wouldn't take a genius to work out who they are, despite the considerable overlap between the two figures._

_The delectably curly head of a certain Mr Shore bends over a less delectable - and less curly, now he thinks about it - head of a certain Miss Rhodes. The room is completely silent, apart from quiet, gentle sobs coming from Emily, though her face is pressed into Aaron's shoulder. His face is pressed into her hair, and although they don't speak, Lyor can tell that whatever this is, they both need desperately._

_They jump when Emily's phone goes off, as does Lyor, rather loudly. Both heads swivel to him as they jump apart over to opposite ends of the sofa. Emily's face is red and puffy, it's obvious she's been crying, but he wouldn't have known Aaron was if he hadn't swiped at his eyes so furiously. "How long have you been standing there?" he accuses._

_"Long enough," Lyor smirks. Aaron's face hardens at him, but when he looks over at Emily his gaze is warm and careful. She meets his eyes, and they have some sort of mute conversation before they both turn back to him._

_"You didn't see anything," Aaron tells him. He tells him, as opposed to asks - Lyor can tell by his tone of voice, and he doesn't plan to cross Aaron Shore in the matters of Emily Rhodes any time soon. Lyor nods in agreement, but not without offering final words of Lyor-ness._

_"You both have actual jobs here, you do know that?" Aaron goes to stand rather aggressively, Lyor isn't sure if that kind of reaction was necessary, to be honest. But Emily reaches over and touches his hand before he can get out of range, and he stops dead, curling his fingers around hers._

_He sends Lyor one last venomous glare. "You didn't see anything." If Lyor wasn't inclined to agree before, he certainly was now._

*

Oh, he must have been remembering wrong. He didn't see anything that day. 

But he is seeing something now, the way Emily's eyes grow wide and watery while all eyes are on Aaron, then she snaps back into work mode when the transmission ends. It's admirable, but also poses a problem. She can't think straight today. Whatever it is she shares with Aaron is bound to come into consideration in her decision making, and Lyor can't have that causing consequences for the administration. 

The President of Cuba replaces Aaron, and Emily steps forward to accuse him of having a spy in his midst. God, he needs to step in now, Lyor thinks. He catches Emily's eye across the room and draws his finger across his neck - in hindsight probably not the best gesture to be making to a woman on the verge of losing her whatever he is. Not that Lyor thinks the rebels are going to brutally murder Aaron and send his head back to the White House in a fried chicken takeout box. No, of course not. 

They don't get a huge amount of information out of the President, but Emily stays quiet, so no regress in the situation - or potential severed heads - can be attributed to her. 

He follows her back to her office, dodging her combative glares that startlingly resemble Aaron's. "I don't need a babysitter, you know."

"I know." He doesn't know, he doesn't think Emily should be left to her own devices, what with all the letter openers and kombucha laying about. 

She grits her teeth. "You didn't see anything." Ah, of course. How could he forget. 

He rolls his eyes and nearly loses them in the back of his head. Emily looks like she needs a little privacy - probably to cry, but he's not one to judge - and he does have other work to be doing, so he leaves her be in her office, shutting the door all the way.

He next sees her when they discuss options, and lo and behold, her face is red and blotchy. He leans down into her ear, "I have a really good foundation for that if you'd like, I think we'd be the same shade." If looks could kill. 

When she brings up ransom, he nearly shoots himself in the face. It's something he thinks the President would never agree to pre-no-Alex, but they are firmly in the no-Alex stage, which also puts them in the no-action-of-any-kind-for-10-weeks stage, and this is exactly the kind of thing the President might go for. 

Then he mentions Aaron, briefly, and she suggests a recon mission, which would be a far better option, and luckily he goes for it. Sort of. It's better than paying the ransom at any rate, so he keeps quiet until the President is way out of earshot. 

They go their separate ways afterwards, and after a particularly annoying run-in with an interviewee for his assistant post, he joins in with Emily and Kendra's conversation very smoothly. He likes his entrance a lot. 

She's getting very agitated about it all, understandably, and he and Kendra do their best to reassure her. "We're getting Aaron back," Kendra promises. With that statement Lyor has no doubt she's noticed Emily's emotional turmoil during the day, but then, how could she have not. 

He watches Emily's face cautiously as he agrees, "Safe and sound."

"Let's make it happen."

Yeah, that was the plan, until Kirkman goes for the ransom. My god, the President is stupid. He shouldn't say that really, and he wouldn't out loud, but, god... 

Lyor tries to talk him out of it, to no avail, or so it seemed, until the leader Emily, Aaron and Seth harped on about from his first year in office reemerges to call military action. Emily's relief is comical. Not to her, of course, but Lyor doesn't know what it is with finding other people's emotions hilarious. 

"We're gonna get him- them, we're gonna get them back." She almost bounces with excitement. He notices her slip. 

Once Hannah Wells sends them a message about Phillip Cross, it's rather plain sailing, for a hostage situation. Emily insists on going to retrieve the intel from Chuck Russink, the computer guy working with Agent Wells, herself, and from there they simply allow Cuba to punish their government, no American intervention necessary. 

It's nearing midnight when Emily - and by extension, Lyor - go to the Oval Office. "The plane is landing in an hour at Dulles, sir."

Tom nods, already grabbing his coat. "I want to be there, can I get a car?" he asks to the relevant personnel. "Thank you," he dismisses them, but Emily clears her throat. 

"Sir, I would like to come too, to commend the trade delegation for their bravery."

Surely it sounds like just as big a load of crap to the President as it does to him. "Yes, and I too would love to take part in the commendation."

Emily sends daggers for what must be the millionth time that day, but in T-2 minutes they're piling into the President's car and on the way to the airport. It's a 40 minute drive Tom, Lyor and Mike use to actually chat, like normal humans. Emily opts out of this common practice and chooses to stare out of the window instead. Silently. For the entire 40 minutes. 

They're fast-tracked through the airport, something Lyor could get used to, and then they make themselves comfortable in sub-zero temperatures, not something Lyor could get used to. The wind burns his face and he doesn't know why they couldn't have just waited inside, but the plane lands on time and soon the hostages are disembarking. 

Emily's eyes are glued to the staircase. They've gone watery again. Her breaths are ragged. "Don't suck his face off too hard," Lyor teases, just to lighten the mood. She doesn't appreciate it. 

All the other passengers get off the plane before Aaron. Leaving him until last was a master creative decision by whoever is directing the movie about their journey, because he gets a front row seat when her face lights up and is promptly concealed. Aaron's face betrays no emotion, but his gaze finds hers immediately, like magnets. 

Once he gets over to them, the President claps him on the back. "Nice to have you back on home soil, Aaron."

"Glad to be back, sir," he smiles graciously.

He moves around the President and Emily throws her arms around his neck. It's the biggest display of affection he's ever seen from her, and he reciprocates with even more gusto. And then they break apart. It was brief, but by the way they stay pressed against each other; the way Aaron's hand lands on her thigh on the way back to the White House; by the way Lyor sees her get in his car, wearing what he knows to be his collegiate hoodie; he knows it's meaningful.

**Author's Note:**

> ps. i am the whoever is directing the movie about their journey thank you and goodbye


End file.
